Opposite Sides of the Door
by SilverInk2011
Summary: Booth and Brennan reflect on The Doctor and the Photo together.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters and stories belong to FOX, Kathy Reichs, and Hart Hanson.  
**

A/N: Post The Doctor in the Photo. I know it's redundant, but I just thought of another Booth/Brennan story. I don't know if I want this as a multi-chapter or if I want this as a one shot. You tell me. Please review. Thanks. Love, Lawabidingchild.

* * *

Opposite Sides of the Door

_Just like that? I lost her just like that? _Booth asked himself these questions after walking Brennan back to her apartment. He couldn't bring himself to leave._  
_

_Is he gone? Is there more I can say? _Brennan was asking herself questions of her own. She was in her apartment, but couldn't bring herself to leave the door.

Brennan stared into her empty apartment that she so helplessly stumbled into. She tried to shy away from Booth, but he insisted on walking her up to see if she was okay. She did not say a word, did not murmur anything, or turn around to deflect her actions. Instead, she stared into the empty apartment, only to figure out how alone she really is.

Booth looked down the hallway. It was the dead of night and he imagined most normal people are asleep. She told him something that somehow he had already known. It was something she refused to know. Now that they both know, he has someone else. And he sees that as unfair. Not just to Brennan, but to Hannah. Like he said in the car, Hannah is not a consolation prize. He loves her. But does he really love her?

Brennan swerved her arm around her thinning and paling body. Three days of non stop work taught her nothing. They only solved the case and maybe broke her spirit. Her once rational persona was now fading and being replaced with something irrational. What was happening was scaring her, and not having anyone to help her along only made it more lonely. Booth was even fading away in her light. All she wanted was to hear the truth. And she thought she got it. And she felt she deserved every horrible truth he threw at her. She waited too long.

Booth didn't know what to do. Should he leave Hannah right then and there so he could go in and comfort Brennan and tell her Hannah was a huge mistake? No. He could not do that to Hannah. Hannah loved him and she deserved much better than that. He didn't want to leave Hannah. He knew that it would hurt her. He had to choose the sacrifice. That was Brennan. Or was it? Was he sacrificing his happiness so another woman wouldn't feel pain? Did he not realize that his actions may just hurt two women?

Brennan couldn't stand another tearless minute. She didn't want to cry in front of Booth anymore, so she saved the rest of her tears for the rest of the lonely night. She walked away from all of it last year when he professed his love to her. Now she realizes that he must have had these same feelings of rejection on that night. She slid down the door and buried her head in her arms.

Booth realized that all he wanted was right in front of him, yet he could not have it. He could not have it because another woman invaded his life. That woman was at home right now, probably worried out of her mind. He felt sick when he realized he was more worried about the woman he rejected. He stared ahead and placed his head in his left hand, sighing to himself.

_Why did I wait so long? What in the entire world is wrong with me? Since when did I become so irrational and unintelligent?_

_Why do I feel so guilty? She rejected me. Why do I feel guilty about rejecting her now? She waited so long, and now she expects me to leave Hannah for her? What the hell?_

_I feel so guilty. I told him now, and he's probably mad at me. He has every right. I was a fool._

_I feel so wrong and stupid. She was right in front of me the whole time and I didn't persist. What kind of idiot am I?_

As if sensing each others presence, they both opened their mouths. They said the three words they should have said to each other long ago, words that may bring them together.

"I love you." They both whispered those words. Neither of them left the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters and stories belong to FOX, Kathy Reichs, and Hart Hanson.  
**

A/N: Another chapter. I decided on a multi-chapter. Please review. Thanks. Love, Lawabidingchild.

* * *

Booth finally found the strength in his legs to get out of the building without feeling like he was going to fall. He stole a glance back at Brennan's apartment door. He didn't think that there was anything that he could do to save this friendship. He didn't think he would be welcome back to her apartment.

When he was a much safer distance, he took one last forlorn look and headed out into the cold.

The ride in the SUV never seemed so lonely. Normally he'd have Brennan with him and they'd be disputing a case or having a conversation in the car together. Not trying to push each other away. Now that feelings of love and regret were out in the open, they couldn't continue a friendship, let alone maintain a work relationship.

Booth had his regrets, and his regrets were giving his life over to another person, despite how sweet and delightful she is, and not being more persistent with her. If he had been more persistent, he could be in her apartment with her, kissing her, making love to her. But he wasn't and he did and there was nothing he could do about it without hurting someone else.

In a way, there was nothing he could do without creating an even bigger mess than the one he started out with.

The rain was becoming heavier. He had to flip the switch to a much higher setting in order to be able to have some visibility. It was fitting, however. _Bones, this goes with everything, doesn't it? _he asked her in his head. _You went to a terrible part of town already broken and looking for answers. The rain started pouring. Then I break your heart and it begins to rain harder. Don't worry, because I feel just as shitty as you do.  
_

* * *

Brennan kept her spot down on her floor. She felt like a broken toy. She felt like each step she could take would be her last, but she decided that, for her sake, she should get up and change into some dry clothes.

Standing up took all the strength she had left. She removed her coat and slumped it over her chair, the wet fabric soaking through the soft threads of the chair. She brushed a wet strand of hair out of her face and pressed on.

She could feel tightness in her chest. The tightness caused by a broken heart. She suspected Booth felt this long ago, when she rejected him because she wasn't ready for a romantic relationship. That made her sick. She proceeded to the bathroom and heaved as hard as she could, taking a paper towel off the roll to rid her mouth of the vomit. She wanted to rid of every single disgusting ailment of her past affections. Maybe there was something she was missing. There was something somewhere that she was somehow overlooking.

She missed Booth so much. She felt like his rejection was like saying good-bye. Maybe tomorrow he'll ask for a new partner and not use the Jeffersonian team at all. Maybe he'll ask to be stationed somewhere else where the may never have to meet again.

She didn't want that.

She didn't want any of that.

She never wanted any of what happened to happen. That was her regret, and now, here they were. On opposites sides of the door. On opposite spectrums of the universe. On two completely different planes of life.

_You deserve to be happy, Booth. I don't want to take that away._


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters and stories belong to FOX, Kathy Reichs, and Hart Hanson.  
**

A/N: Another chapter. Please review. Thanks. Love, Lawabidingchild.

* * *

He unlocked the handle of the door. When he twisted it, he was careful. She was probably sleeping and he did not want to wake her up.

However, noise surprised him. He crept into the living room to see what was going on, as so not to trip on anything he may have left on the floor in that messy apartment of his and Hannah's. What he saw in the living room caught him off-guard.

Hannah was packing a suitcase.

"Hannah?" he asked. "What's going on? Did you get a big assignment?"

She gave him a sad smile. "No," she answered simply. She folded shirts neatly and stacked them into the suitcase.

"Then why-?" he asked, but she silenced him.

"I'm leaving for good, Seeley," she stated. When she packed her toothbrush, she closed the suitcase with ease. "I know about Temperance. I saw what happened. You saved her today, but only because you knew what would happen. You knew before it even happened, and you were out of your mind with worry."

"But I was worried when you got shot, Hannah," he defended pathetically.

"That was after," she said. "If you had known before, then there would be something. I can't be in a relationship that is one-sided."

"But I love you," he said with little feeling. He knew how pathetic he sounded at that moment, and so did she.

"But you're not in love with me," mused Hannah, clutching the suitcase and starting to leave. She gave Booth one last kiss on the cheek. "Good-bye, Seeley."

He waited until ten minutes after she departed before grabbing his keys and leaving himself.

* * *

Brennan sat on her sofa, clutching the throw pillow to her chest as a pathetic attempt at comfort. She knew that a pillow wasn't the same as a person. At least that knowledge was still intact. She felt nothing more than pain, and that depressed her and took her by surprise.

Breathing was becoming an effort. She would breathe in and out, like a normal human being, but there would be a throbbing pain following each rise and fall of her chest. That was the pain of a broken heart. The pain of a broken heart pierced her like a bullet. She made this happen. She knew this was all her fault for waiting.

_He's with her now, _she thought bitterly to herself, _and he's probably exploring sexual prowess with her also. He doesn't love me. _

There was a knock on her door that startled her. She wanted desperately to see who it was, but then again, she didn't. Maybe she needed to be alone right at that very moment.

It wasn't until there was a voice at that other end of the door. It was a voice she knew so well. A voice that makes her heart jump ever time she hears it. A voice that's become so familiar to her after years of partnership.

"Come on Bones," ordered that voice, "open up!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters and stories belong to FOX, Kathy Reichs, and Hart Hanson.  
**

A/N: Another chapter. The final confrontation. Please review. Thanks. Love, Lawabidingchild.

* * *

Brennan opened the door, a thread of surprise and hope betrayed the pain in her heart. She allowed him to sit down and she took her position back on the couch, hugging her pillow to her chest again.

She turned her gaze away from him. She couldn't allow him to explore the hurt in her eyes. He was probably just here to talk about what happened anyway.

Booth started at her from across the coffee table. He'd never seen her look so broken. He longed to pull her into an embrace and ravish her right there, but thought better of it. He knew her and he knew that she'd want to talk.

"Hannah left me," he said, breaking the silence and the tension that filled the room.

She looked up at him with hope in her eyes, which betrayed the concern in her voice. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "Why?"

He noticed that she was happy it happened. He was happy it happened. Sure, someone got hurt, but that someone chose to hurt herself in order to let someone else be happy. He didn't feel guilty about going to another woman after his break up. "Apparently, I knew that you were in danger."

"I don't see how that could trigger a break up," said Brennan, clearly clueless on how this worked.

"She saw that I knew what was going to happen," said Booth simply. "And she was right, Bones. I knew what you were going to do, and I couldn't shake the feeling off of me that this wasn't going to end well. So I left the apartment and tried to chase you. That's what tipped her off." He stared at her eyes, boring into the depths of her pupils. "Are you happy now?"

"I'm sorry, Booth," she apologized. She figured he must be mad. He just caused him and the woman that he loves unnecessary hurt. That made her chest hurt even more.

Instead, his eyes softened. "I'm not mad at you, Bones. I could never be." He moved to her side of the room, so he could face her on the couch. "I loved Hannah, but I wasn't in love with her." He reached out for her cheek and ran his thumb over it in a comforting gesture. "When I met her in Afghanistan, I was still recovering from the rejection you gave me. I fell what I thought was in love with her. I forgot about you when I was with her, but the minute we walked back into each others lives, I realized that I still love you. I love Hannah, but I'm in love with you. I hope you never forget that."

Tears formed back into Brennan's eyes. She was completely overwhelmed by what was happening. Booth just reconfessed his love for her. This was her reaction. "I don't know if I deserve this."

"Why, Bones?" he asked, confused.

"Last year, in front of Sweets' office, you-," she began, but he silenced her with a kiss. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head as she responded. When he pulled away, she wrapped her arms around his neck and nestled her head into his neck.

"I love you," he whispered. "And I'm in love with you. Those aren't empty words."

She pulled back, tears still running down her cheeks in powerful, hungry streams. "For once in my life, I actually know what that means." She leaned in and kissed him again. This time, she would never let him get away.

She was glad to be on the same side of the door.


End file.
